BEAUTIFUL DINING ON THE WILD ROAD NOW

While the best safari outfitters do an amazing job to ensure that you dine as well as you camp, trek, and drive through the Great Wildebeest Migrations territories, after a couple of weeks of mess tent meals and dusty picnics, you might be ready for some extra culinary pampering and some new dining experiences. We have a few beautiful suggestions.

NGORONGORO CRATER LODGE

Once you have had your fill of exploring the beauties of the wild, sit back and enjoy a delicate meal at the Ngorongo Crater Lodge. You will feel like you are dining at the top of the world -- because you kind of are!

The lodge sits at the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater which was formed from the collapse of a giant volcano. It is the world’s largest unflooded crater and is listed as a World Heritage Site. While you enjoy your meal, you can experience the beauty of the African wildlife in the distance -- everything from big cats to wildebeest.

The restaurant is expertly crafted out of traditional Maasai mud and sticks, but it is luxury all the way. The architecture is spectacular. The split-level dining and bar area is decorated with prehistoric cave paintings and features a wall of windows, and a beautiful terrace extends, because, after all, it is all about the view here.

Have a sundowner cocktail while you watch the magnificent African sunset. It is a tradition that dates back to the safaris of the 1920s.

The restaurant serves both traditional Masai food and Pan-African dishes like duck with kumquat and chili marmalade.

If you want to be a little closer to the action, try the Ngorongoro Bush Dinner. It takes place at a scenic location on the rim of the Crater. It is timed to coincide with sunset, which happens around 6:00 p.m. here at the Equator. Tables, chairs, lanterns, and a gorgeous campfire all form a beautiful setting.

THE ROCK RESTAURANT

Yes, this place is off the beaten path. You’ll need to fly away from the Serengeti to savor this Tanzanian dining experience. The Rock Restaurant sits on a rock that juts out of the sea off the Michanwi Pingwe beach at the southeastern edge of Zanzibar.

If the breathtaking tranquility of the Rock Restaurant wasn’t enough, the menu only adds to the restaurant’s beauty.

The Rock Special includes a sweet local lobster, cigale (aka Slipper Lobster), prawns, catch-of-the-day fish filet, and calamari, all delicately cooked on the grill.

Fish carpaccio with passion fruit sauce and lime tastes like it came from the sea just minutes before it hits the plate…. because it just did! The home made tagliatelle with small lobster, tomato and aubergine is stellar. And the homemade potato gnocchi with crispy prawns, scented with Zanzibar vanilla beans is genius.

Squid and Queen Prawns marinated in coconut with basmati white rice is a beautiful version of a traditional local dish.

Read more about Beautiful Migrations, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including BN Does Great Migrations Now (Part1) and BN Does Great Migrations Now (Part2).

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Migrations in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT 08.31.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: Courtesy of the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. Wildlife in Front of Ngorongoro Crater Lodge.
2. Photo: Courtesy of Africa Travel Resource. Ngorongoro Crater Lodge.
3. Photo: Courtesy of And Beyond. Ngorongoro Crater Lodge View.
4. Photo: Courtesy of Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. Sundowners at the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, Tanzania.
5. Photo: by Chris Fifield-Smith. Mara Sunset.
6. Photo: Courtesy of EJAfrica. Safari Dinner.
7. Photo: Courtesy of Rock Restaurant. The Rock Restaurant.
8. Photo: Courtesy of the Rock Restaurant. “The Rock Lobster.”
9. Photo: Courtesy of the Rock Restaurant. “The Rock Seafood.”